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Yet the one we sport leaves alot to be desired...the Special Teams play for the Niners was the straw that broke the Patriots back last night. BB have said in many press conferences ST's is part of the game...yet he gets nothing from the position. McCourty is a joke on ST's return he's too indecisive...that experiment should be over. Knowing we will be playing three Games now a ST's play here and there could come in handy. There has to a specialist out there on the streets.

Special teams killed us last night. 2 holdings and the long return. Brady does not play well backed up to the end zone he is jittery in the pocket. But the killer was the kick return. Finally Come back tie up the the game, young QB on the road 4th quarter gotta make him sweat and earn it and we give it to him on the 35 yd line and then gamble with a blitz. IMO that return cost us the game.

I love Wes but would it kill us to sign a real returner. McCourty is very average and I love Edelman on PR's but he is gone and wont be back this year.

I agree. I think they should stop having McCourty returning kicks. He hesitates way too much when he sees blockers...just choose a path and take it. Often times I see him run up until a blocker comes close then he just stops dead in his track to decide where he wants to go and gets tackled.

Our ST players were running very slow last night and couldn't make tackles, especially #23. A number of them just ran past the receiver when the ball hasnt been caught yet...

Does Gostkowski kick the ball short on purpose during kick offs or does he really have one of the weakest legs in the NFL?

I agree. I think they should stop having McCourty returning kicks. He hesitates way too much when he sees blockers...just choose a path and take it. Often times I see him run up until a blocker comes close then he just stops dead in his track to decide where he wants to go and gets tackled.

Our ST players were running very slow last night and couldn't make tackles, especially #23. A number of them just ran past the receiver when the ball hasnt been caught yet...

Does Gostkowski kick the ball short on purpose during kick offs or does he really have one of the weakest legs in the NFL?

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Umm, seeing as he's booted kickoffs 85 yards in the past, it's not a weak leg.

Last night notwithstanding, the Patriots only allow, on average, 21 yards per return, which is 4th lowest in the league.

I love Wes but would it kill us to sign a real returner. McCourty is very average and I love Edelman on PR's but he is gone and wont be back this year.

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Edelman was certainly a "real" PR, and we've signed one the PS who could well be activated for the Jacksonville game. And the team signed Demps last summer, who should be the return man of the future. So it's not like they've had no interest in the topic. But I agree that our current options are far from ideal.

The ST play that I expect will stick in BB's craw the most was the fake punt. Those kind of plays just kill you. Get off the field in that situation and the whole complexion of the game potentially changes.

Yet the one we sport leaves alot to be desired...the Special Teams play for the Niners was the straw that broke the Patriots back last night. BB have said in many press conferences ST's is part of the game...yet he gets nothing from the position. McCourty is a joke on ST's return he's too indecisive...that experiment should be over. Knowing we will be playing three Games now a ST's play here and there could come in handy. There has to a specialist out there on the streets.

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I'm not sure why people constantly feel the need to blame one unit in losses like this. This loss was a complete team failure. From the coaching (this is one loss where I can include the coaching as part of the reason why we lost) to the execution. All three phases of the team had a hand in this loss.

The ST play that I expect will stick in BB's craw the most was the fake punt. Those kind of plays just kill you. Get off the field in that situation and the whole complexion of the game potentially changes.

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True but the kickoff coverage after we tied the game was even more unacceptable. A solid stop inside the 25 there and things are very different, we have momentum, crowd, everything. Instead they get past midfield.

Wasn't it 3 holding penalties on returns? Those were killer, either way. Starting at the 7 and the 4?

I told my wife as we were watching that if we got it to 14 by the 4th quarter that the game would change. And I was right. And when we got it to 1 score I knew it was a matter of time before we got the game tied.

We've all of us watched enough football to know the ebb and flow of games. That's why that sequence, right after we tied everything, of a huge return was killer. We had spent too much emotional capital on defense and offense getting the game tied that a return of that size leading to a TD.

The offense had a lot of fluke things go against them. The defense had a lot of fluke things that didn't go our way. It was an atypical game and why I am more confident of us winning the championship now than before last night. Coasting over teams is fun and great but there's something about facing adversity like this that can really shape a team going forward. I think this is a game we can build on if we get down to someone in the playoffs.

The ST play that I expect will stick in BB's craw the most was the fake punt. Those kind of plays just kill you. Get off the field in that situation and the whole complexion of the game potentially changes.

Wasn't it 3 holding penalties on returns? Those were killer, either way. Starting at the 7 and the 4?

I told my wife as we were watching that if we got it to 14 by the 4th quarter that the game would change. And I was right. And when we got it to 1 score I knew it was a matter of time before we got the game tied.

We've all of us watched enough football to know the ebb and flow of games. That's why that sequence, right after we tied everything, of a huge return was killer. We had spent too much emotional capital on defense and offense getting the game tied that a return of that size leading to a TD.

The offense had a lot of fluke things go against them. The defense had a lot of fluke things that didn't go our way. It was an atypical game and why I am more confident of us winning the championship now than before last night. Coasting over teams is fun and great but there's something about facing adversity like this that can really shape a team going forward. I think this is a game we can build on if we get down to someone in the playoffs.

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Three penalties against us on returns. Three holding calls (by my count) missed on the big return by LaMichael James.

I'm not sure why people constantly feel the need to blame one unit in losses like this. This loss was a complete team failure. From the coaching (this is one loss where I can include the coaching as part of the reason why we lost) to the execution. All three phases of the team had a hand in this loss.

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Agreed, but I'd expand that hand to all 4 for that reason. The defense seemed ill prepared for air Kaepernick out of the gate. The offense seemed oddly determined to stick with a plan to run the ball out of the gate even as the runners kept putting the rock on the ground. And they allowed the opponent to dictate tempo. ST was not prepared for that fake punt even though conditions were ripe. There were costly mistakes across the board. D kept blitzing for naught, drop after drop on offense and multiple fumbles recovered or not, poor field position due to ST inability to attack coupled with uncharacteristic penalties. Lack of focus and discipline was widespread early and reared it's head again late.

I'd add a fifth deficit. Luck. If we didn't have bad luck last night we might have had none. The bounces and breaks and for that matter calls didn't go our way across the board. Coaches needed to adjust their approach accordingly.

Poor execution is on the players, and we had too many instances of it. That said, coaching is always in question when that happens to a team like this in all three phases... They didn't have a bead on their own team as it took the field, and that impacts whatever bead they thought they had on the opponent. Maybe in a perfect world they had a game plan in all phases that would have worked. But it was pretty clear early on they weren't in a perfect world, this was closer to performing in an alternate universe and they were very slow to adapt and adjust. Even mentality wise, which is how that fake punt succeeded. Knowing what a gambler Harbaugh is...

In four of our last five losses, ST's has played a key factor in the loss. It wasn't the main reason, but it's concerning that they choose these games to struggle.

-Last night was obvious. Just horrendous all around.
-Seattle game- they let up a huge PR right before Seattle's last drive. Not sure if a decent punt would have changed the outcome given the way our D was playing, but starting on your own 20 vs. midfield makes a huge difference at that point.
-AZ game - blocked punt leading to a TD. Then Ghostkowski's shank.
- SB last year - Let up some KR out to the 35, at least one led to a FG where it may not have been had we gotten a plain old touchback. Poor KR on our end, one possession we had to start inside our 20, went 3 and out, bad punt led to them starting in our territory - another easy FG. The punts they downed inside the 5 nothing much we could do I guess just great plays by them, but further highlight how badly we were outplayed on ST that day despite the Giants not being known at all for ST.

Even though we've been solid for the most part, you can't really say ST has been the difference in any wins other than the first Jets game. These close games are the ones where they need to shine and they've been a liability for the most part in those. With Edelman out, this team needs a return specialist even if he's taking a roster spot solely as a returner. Both return units are a liability now other than one return by DMC.

I think for the most part we have good special teams, Edelman on IR is huge though. Next year Demps should shore up the KR unit, and Luke Tasker is entering the draft, son of special teams legend Steve Tasker. I think we should draft him.